Village of Lewiston: Healthy food café, market proposed

by jmaloni

Sat, Mar 15th 2014 10:05 am

400 Plain St., also known as the Kelly House.

Viewing 1 of 3

Specialty
café would be the first of its kind in Lewiston

Article
and photos by Joshua Maloni

Lewiston residents can weigh in Monday on plans to convert
the historic Kelly House into a café and specialty market. A public hearing is
scheduled for 6 p.m. in the Red Brick Municipal Building, 145 N. Fourth St.

As stated in its business plan, "Niagara Marketplace &
Bistro is a new company that will offer customers organic and locally grown
produce, chemical and preservative-free groceries, cruelty-free body care and eco-household
products. Additionally, our kitchen will offer healthy lunch and dinner options
emphasizing organic and whole food options."

Located at 400 Plain St. (on the corner of South Fourth
Street), the business would serve vegan, vegetarian and organic foods for
breakfast, lunch and dinner. Seating would exist in the Kelly House living
room, on the side patio and outside on the veranda. The products used in the
prepared dishes will be available for purchase within a market-type setup in
the building's numerous first floor side rooms.

"We're going to start out with a small
café, serving healthy foods - some natural, non-GMO (genetically modified
organism). Something different for Lewiston, we think," said Paul Licata, one
of the Niagara Marketplace & Bistro partners. "We're also going to sell
some natural products - non-GMO products. Things you don't really find at Tops
and at supermarkets."

Licata added, "Lewiston has a lot of
different things, you know, unique restaurants, businesses. We thought this was
a bit unique, as well: Natural products, natural foods that you don't see in
Niagara Falls and Lewiston, yet. That's what attracted us."

Claudia Marasco, who officially acquired
the Kelly House in February, called the site an investment property. Though
it's intended to bring her revenue, she said the greater goal is investing in
Lewiston.

"I said when I bought the building that I
promised that it would be well taken care of," Marasco said. "It would not go
into disarray. You would never have to pull it down."

Moreover, "I want to see people sitting on
that veranda. I want them to enjoy that building and the beauty of the
village," she said. "And with the free concerts with the gazebo, and people
streaming to Artpark, or people maybe going down the waterfront that aren't
going to go on a ride or doing anything like that, but they are looking for
someplace to come that is different, (they can come here)."

Marasco said she's admired the circa-1852
house for many years. Now that she owns it, she wants to share it.

"I always felt the public should be able
to come into that majestic building," she said. "I just feel a real sense of
beauty in there, in the architectural features. But it's not overwhelming. It's
not so upscale that it's unapproachable.

"It hasn't been a business for several
years - since the apothecary was in there. So now we want to put a different
kind of spin on what the business actually should be, because it's such a
natural setting. The natural food component, really, I think is a complementary
(use)."

If the Village Board approves the Niagara
Marketplace & Bistro plan, the business could open in time for Memorial
Day. Regular hours would be from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. at the latest (depending on
Hennepin Park Gazebo and Artpark events).

The Kelly House is located in an R-2
(two-family residential) zoned district. As such, Niagara Marketplace &
Bistro needed a special use permit, which it received Tuesday.

The business's partners first presented
their proposal to the Historic Preservation Commission/Village Planning Board
on Monday.

Board members were satisfied with the
building's usage, and pleased the plan doesn't call for exterior changes

"It's a beautiful building," board member
David Giusiana said. "It's beautifully maintained and taken care of. It's a
jewel of the Village of Lewiston."

Though it was built as a residence,
Giusiana said it's unlikely a single family would be interested in a living in
such a large property (4,725 square feet).

"To me, it's an excellent reuse of it,
even with this slightly more intensified use of the café," he said.

Village Historian Pam Hauth, who lives
near the Kelly House, said, "It was built as a residence; it wasn't intended as
a business, originally."

Planning Board members were uneasy about
the café/market's impact on traffic. Board member Norm Machelor expressed
concern about parking spilling down the street and bothering residents.

A debate arose Monday with the Planning Board,
and continued Tuesday with the Zoning Board of Appeals, with regard to the
café/market's parking spaces. The former determined the property has five
existing spaces on site - tucked between the house and the gazebo. They said it
would need five more spaces.

The Planning Board discussed parking
alternatives - including expanding the current parking lot and entering into an
agreement with other parking lot owners (the church across the street, or at
the Red Brick).

"I think you're getting the idea that
we're really concerned about parking in the Village of Lewiston," Slaugenhoupt
said. "It is a major problem. We don't have a lot of places to turn to. This is
a very serious issue."

Unable to find a solution, the Planning
Board denied the special use permit based on limited parking spaces. Members
sent the Niagara Marketplace & Bistro proposal to the ZBA - with a
recommendation that board grant a parking variance. With such a code
modification in place, the Planning Board would approve the permit.

The ZBA was split on granting a variance.

Board member Edward Finkbeiner said the
village's parking problem "is part of the nature of our seasonality. There's
nothing we can do about that."

"We have taverns that were gas stations
that created no parking, and now they're bringing in 100 cars at a time," he
added.

Finkbeiner called it "a double-edge sword.
... Parking is a conundrum. It's the good, the bad and the ugly of running a
municipality."

ZBA member Bart Klettke said granting a
variance would be a double standard. He referenced an old proposal for
condominiums behind the Frontier House. That plan was rejected, in part, he
said, because of a lack of parking spaces.

Plus, Klettke said the proposal has "come
to us at the last minute. ... It's just all of a sudden plopped in front of us. I
got a couple of letters from neighbors who are complaining."

The ZBA received two letters from three
residents concerned about neighborhood traffic.

Board members Michael Swanson said, "One
of the issues that I have is it was a business before that a few people would
be going in and out of. This letter here says there's 50 to 60 people. That's a
lot of cars. That's a lot of space that we don't have in that area."

Finkbeiner said seating and parking are
not 1:1. Even if the business did max out at 50 or 60 at one time, which he
said is unlikely, that wouldn't mean an equal number of cars.

Licata said the number of inside tables
would be eight. Only a few more would exist in the other dining areas. As such,
he didn't expect overwhelming crowds.

Swanson said the ZBA needed more time to
assess the situation before making a decision.

"We really shouldn't make a judgment yet
without all the information," he said.

"We don't have enough information to give
a variance," Swanson added. "If we base it on eight tables as they say, then I
don't have a problem with that. ... But if we base it on 60 people, then that's
different."

When it came time to vote on the variance,
the ZBA's first poll resulted in two "yes" votes (Finkbeiner and MacLaren), and
two "no" votes (Klettke and Swanson). Chairman H. John Ritter was on the fence.

"I think the best thing for us to do is to
table this," he said. "Come back next month."

When the Niagara Marketplace & Bistro
team said a four-week delay could result in a financial hardship, MacLaren and
Finkbeiner asked their colleagues to reconsider.

"(The village) can't be pro-business and ...
then not go along with parking," MacLaren said. "Business is fine. It brings in
money; it brings in people. But they've got to have a place to park cars."

"If we don't somewhere help support
businesses in an intrinsic manner ... nobody's going to be able to pay these
property taxes," Finkbeiner said. "It's just the way it is."

Reluctantly, Ritter agreed to cast a vote,
and said "yes" to the proposal.

Niagara Marketplace & Bistro now goes
to the Village Board for final approval.

Marasco said she is hopeful the project
will move forward.

"To me, it's a house of Lewiston," she
said. "It's a part of our history, and it's to be well taken care of. I think
their idea for a healthy food café fits well for the place."

Additional offerings at the Niagara
Marketplace & Bistro would include a nutritionist, educational cooking lessons
and health and wellness classes.

As of now, there is no plan for the second
floor. It could be used as living quarters or an expansion of the business.

The specialty café would be the first of its kind in
Lewiston, a place named among the nation's top food destinations in 2012 by
Rand McNally/USA Today.